Window blind carrier slide

ABSTRACT

A window blind carrier slide includes a sliding body having at least one set of fixing members located at an upper front side and an upper rear side thereof for slidably mounting in an upper rail for a window blind, and at least one linking seat located at a lower side thereof; and a linking block having at least one engaging portion provided at an upper side thereof for tightly engaging with the at least one linking seat on the sliding body, and two one mounting legs located at two lower lateral sides of the at least one engaging portion for locking to a lower rail for the window blind. The linking block is detachably connected to the sliding body through engagement of the engaging portion on the linking block with the linking seat of the sliding body, enabling quick mounting and dismounting of a window blind.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a window blind carrier slide, and moreparticularly to a window blind carrier slide that allows a window blindto be conveniently mounted to or dismounted from upper and lower guiderails for the window blind.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are many kinds of window coverings, such as curtains, draperies,shades, blinds, etc. These window coverings may be mounted to or hungfrom a window in different manners. A conventional curtain mainlyincludes a guide rail, a plurality of carrier slides, and one or morepieces of curtain fabrics. The guide rail is mounted to a fixed placeacross an upper side of a window. Each of the carrier slides includes anupper roller slidably mounted on the guide rail and a hole formed at alower part of the carrier slide. Every curtain fabric is folded along anupper edge thereof to form a plurality of pleats, to each of which anend of an S-shaped hook is connected. The other end of the hook ishooked to the lower hole of the carrier slide, so as to connect thecurtain fabric to the carrier slide and allow the curtain fabric to bepulled open or close along the guide rail via the carrier slide.However, when it is desired to remove the curtain fabrics from the guiderail for cleaning, the user has to stand at a higher place to remove thehooks from the carrier slides one by one. This is very inconvenient anddangerous for the user to do so.

Another conventional curtain mainly includes an upper guide rail, afixing rod, and one or more pieces of curtain fabrics. The upper guiderail is mounted to a fixed place across an upper side of a window, andhas a guide channel formed along a lower side of the guide rail. Thecurtain fabrics are hung from the fixing rod, and the fixing rod issideward slid into the lower guide channel of the upper guide rail froma lateral end of the guide rail. Two stoppers are then connected to thetwo lateral ends of the upper guide rail to confine the fixing rod inthe lower guide channel of the guide rail. Since no hook is needed toconnect the curtain fabrics to the fixing rod, the curtain fabrics alongwith the fixing rod may be more conveniently mounted to or dismountedfrom the upper guide rail. However, when it is desired to dismount thecurtain fabrics from the upper guide rail for cleaning, the user has toremove the two stoppers from the two lateral ends of the guide rail, andthen slides the whole fixing rod out of the lower guide channel of theguide rail. The stoppers disadvantageously increase the material andmanufacturing costs of the curtain. And, when the window or the upperguide rail is located at a place without extra spaces left at twolateral ends thereof, it is impossible to sideward slide the fixing rodout of the lower guide channel of the upper guide rail once the wholecurtain has been mounted to the window. The user has to inconvenientlydismount the whole upper guide rail from the window remove the fixingrod and the curtain fabrics from the guide channel.

It is therefore desirable to develop a window blind carrier slide toenable convenient mounting and dismounting of a window blind to and froman upper guide rail fixedly mounted across an upper side of a window.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the present invention is to provide a window blindcarrier slide that includes two detachably connectable parts to enable auser to conveniently mount and dismount a window blind by engaging ordisengaging the first part with or from the second part in a directionnormal to a front side of the first part.

To achieve the above and other objects, the window blind carrier slideaccording to the present invention includes a sliding body having atleast one set of f fixing members located at an upper front side and anupper rear side thereof for slidably mounting in a guide channel of anupper rail for a window blind, and at least one linking seat located ata lower side thereof; and a linking block having at least one engagingportion provided at an upper side thereof for tightly engaging with theat least one linking seat on the sliding body, and two mounting legslocated at two lower lateral sides of the at least one engaging portionfor locking to a guide channel in a lower rail for the window blind. Thelinking block is detachably connected to the sliding body throughengagement of the at least one engaging portion on the linking blockwith the at least one linking seat of the sliding body from a front sideof the linking seat, enabling quick mounting and dismounting of thewindow blind.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present inventionto achieve the above and other objects can be best understood byreferring to the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a window blind carrier slideaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an assembled perspective view of the window blind carrierslide of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded front view of the window blind carrier slide ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a window blind carrier slideaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an assembled perspective view of the window blind carrierslide of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an exploded front view of the window blind carrier slide ofFIG. 4;

FIG. 7 shows a first example of application of the window blind carrierslide of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the circled area of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 shows a second example of application of the window blind carrierslide of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 that are exploded perspective,assembled perspective, and exploded front views, respectively, of awindow blind carrier slide 1 according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown, the window blind carrier slide 1 includes asliding body 11 and a linking block 12. The sliding body 11 includes twofixing members 111 separately located at upper front and upper rearsides of the sliding body 11 for slidably mounting to a guide channel 81in an upper rail for a window blind (see FIGS. 7 and 8). In theillustrated first embodiment of the present invention, the fixingmembers 111 are two rollers. However, the fixing members 111 may beother functionally similar structures, such as two oppositely extendedsections or blocks. The sliding body 11 also includes a lower linkingseat 112 having a neck portion 1121.

The linking block 12 includes an engaging portion 121 located at anupper end of the linking block 12. The engaging portion 121 isconfigured to tightly engage with the neck portion 1121 of the linkingseat 112 of the sliding body 11. As can be clearly seen from FIG. 1, theengaging portion 121 of the linking block 12 includes a limiting section1211 to firmly hold the neck portion 1121 of the sliding body 11 to theengaging portion 121, such that the sliding body 11 is not movablerelative to the linking block 12. The linking block 12 also includes twomounting legs 122 located at two lower lateral sides of the engagingportion 121. One of the two mounting legs 122 is provided with a throughhole 1221, via which a fastening element (not shown) is extended to lockthe linking block 12 to a guide channel 82 in a lower rail of the windowblind (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Each of the two mounting legs 122 has twoflanges 1222 separately horizontally protruded from a lower front and alower rear edge of the mounting leg 122 for fitly engaging with twocorresponding guide channels in the lower rail 82. Through engagement ofthe linking seat 112 with the engaging portion 121, the sliding body 11and the linking block 12 are detachably connected to each other.

Please refer to FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 that are exploded perspective,assembled perspective, and exploded side views, respectively, of awindow blind carrier slide 4 according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown, the window blind carrier slide 4 includes asliding body 41 and a linking block 42. The sliding body 41 includes twosets of fixing members 411 located at, an upper front side and an upperrear side of the sliding body 41 for slidably mounting to a guidechannel 81 in an upper rail for a window blind (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Inthe illustrated second embodiment of the present invention, the fixingmembers 411 are two sets of rollers. However, the fixing members 411 maybe other functionally similar structures, such as two sets of oppositelyextended sections or blocks. The sliding body 41 also includes two lowerlinking seats 412 having a neck portion 4121 each.

The linking block 42 includes two engaging portions 421 located at anupper end of the linking block 42. The engaging portions 421 areconfigured to tightly engage with the neck portions 4121 of the linkingseats 412 of the sliding body 41. As can be clearly seen from

FIG. 4, each of the engaging portions 421 of the linking block 42includes a limiting section 4211 to firmly hold the neck portion 4121 ofthe sliding body 41 to the engaging portion 421, such that the slidingbody 41 is not movable relative to the linking block 42. The linkingblock 42 also includes two mounting legs 422 located at two lowerlateral sides of the two engaging portions 421. One of the two mountinglegs 422 is provided with a through hole 4221, via which a fasteningelement (not shown) is extended to lock the linking block 42 to a guidechannel 82 in a lower rail of the window blind (see FIGS. 7 and 8). Eachof the two mounting legs 422 has two flanges 4222 separatelyhorizontally protruded from a lower front and a lower rear edge of themounting leg 422 for fitly engaging with two corresponding guidechannels in the lower rail 82. Through engagement of the linking seats412 with the engaging portions 421, the sliding body 41 and the linkingblock 42 are detachably connected to each other.

FIG. 7 shows a first example of application of the window blind carrierslide 4 of the present invention. And, FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of thecircled area in FIG. 7. It is understood the window blind carrier slide1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is used tomount a window blind in the same manner as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8.As can be seen from FIG. 7, the window blind carrier slide 4 of thepresent invention allows convenient mounting of a window blind in alimited space. As can be clearly seen from the enlarged view of FIG. 8,the fixing members 411 of every sliding body 41 are slidably mounted inthe guide channel 81 in the upper rail for the window blind, and themounting legs 422 of every linking block 42 are fitly engaged with theguide channel 82 in the lower rail of the window blind. The window blindmay be easily mounted to a window simply by pushing the engagingportions 421 of every linking block 42 into the neck portions 4121 ofthe linking seats 412 of every sliding body 4l, so that the linkingblock 42 is connected to the sliding body 41 in a direction normal to afront side of the sliding body 41. When it is desired to dismount thewindow blind for cleaning, simply pull the engaging portions 421 of thelinking block 42 out of the neck portions 4121 at the linking seats 412of the sliding body 41 in a direction normal and opposite to the frontside of the sliding body 41, so that the window blind is separated fromthe upper rail. In other words, the engaging portions 421 of the linkingblock 42 is engaged with or separated from the sliding body 41 bypushing or pulling the linking block 42 in a direction normal to a frontside of the sliding body 41.

With the present invention, it is not necessary to use a plurality ofhooks to inconveniently hook a curtain fabric to carrier slides mountedon the upper rail for the curtain; the window blind can be dismountedfrom the upper rail as a whole before being disassembled; the stoppersprovided at two ends of the conventional upper rail of the curtainfabrics may be omitted to save the manufacturing cost thereof; and it isnot necessary to dismount the window blind by sideward moving the wholewindow blind out of the upper rail.

FIG. 9 shows another example of application of the window blind carrierslide of the present invention. As shown, with the present invention,there are other choices for sliding open a window blind. For example, indesigning a window blind for a window, a plurality of separate parts maybe included in the window blind. In FIG. 9, three parts of window blindare illustrated. As shown, the three parts of the window blind areseparately slidably connected to the upper rail of the window blind bymounting the roller-type fixing members 911, 1011, and 1111 of threesets of window blind carrier slides 9, 10, and 11 in three differentguide channels 6, 7, and 8 in the upper rail. A user may push or pullopen any one or more parts of the window blind to any lateral side ofthe window depending on personal preference or need, so as to admitsunlight into the window in an optimum manner.

The present invention has been described with some preferred embodimentsthereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in thedescribed embodiments can be carried out without departing from thescope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limitedonly by the appended claims.

1. A window blind carrier slide, comprising: a sliding body having atleast one set of fixing members located at an upper front side and anupper rear side thereof for slidably mounting in an upper rail for awindow blind, and at least one linking seat located at a lower sidethereof; and a linking block having at least one engaging portionprovided at an upper side thereof for tightly engaging with said atleast one linking seat on said sliding body, and two one mounting legslocated at two lower lateral sides of said at least one engagingportion; and said linking block being detachably connected to saidsliding body through engagement of said at least one engaging portion onsaid linking block with said at least one linking seat of said slidingbody.
 2. The window blind carrier slide as claimed in claim 1, whereinsaid at least one set of fixing members on said sliding body is selectedfrom the group consisting of two oppositely extended sections, twooppositely extended blocks, and two oppositely disposed rollers.
 3. Thewindow blind carrier slide as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at leastone linking seat includes a neck portion.
 4. The window blind carrierslide as claimed in claim 3, wherein said at least one engaging portionon said linking block is tightly engaged with said neck portion on saidat least one linking seat on said sliding body.
 5. The window blindcarrier slide as claimed in claim 4, wherein said at least one engagingportion on said linking block includes at least one limiting section forholding said neck portion to said engaging portion.
 6. The window blindcarrier slide as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of said two mountinglegs on said linking block is provided with at least one through hole,via which a fastening element is extended to lock said linking block toa lower rail for said window blind.
 7. The window blind carrier slide asclaimed in claim 1, wherein each of said two mounting legs on saidlinking block has two flanges separately horizontally protruded from alower front and a lower rear edge of said mounting leg.